Announcing your new Board Members

As a nonprofit organization, IMP has a Board of Directors who serve as its governing body. Working to create, define, evolve, and maintain an organization that represents hundreds of independent small practices requires diverse perspectives, creative ideas, and a lot of work. The BoD has been the source of those perspectives and ideas and the workforce that’s made them happen. IMP welcomes four new Directors for 2017: Mamatha Agrawal MD, Cindi Croft MD, John Machata MD, and Michael Safran MD. We will be featuring one new Board member here each month and are starting with Mamatha.

I have been independent from 2002-2011 and after 1 year as an employed physician, I started my IMP in 2012. These 4 years as a solo micro practice physician, I cut my volume and pay in half, and cut my stress by 95%. Being a family doctor is part of my identity…

As of this year end, I plan to leave the AAFP due to cost and due to the feeling that it no longer benefits me. IMP is now "my organization." I have done all stages of Meaningful Use, accept Medicare and Tricare but have not successfully gotten through to Medicaid. I did not become a PCMH and do not plan to in the future. I did join UNC Health Alliance which is a clinically integrated network in my area which allows me to be in some narrow network ACA plans. The plan for 2017 is that I will submit data for MIPS as well as be part of their NextGen ACO to try for the benefits of an APM.

I would love for the IMPs to… collaborate on cases and the meat of medicine. Maybe we can publish a book which will be a guide for future practitioners who would like to follow the IMP model.

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Article Highlight

This opinion piece appeared in the January 4 Seattle Times. Dr. Hochberg shares a perspective on some of the benefits of small independent practices, with a focus on the health benefits of a close provider-patient relationship. I bet you all have similar stories. The comments section alone is worth a click.

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Did you spot the Website Change of the Month?

OK, maybe we won’t get around to changing something every single month. But IMPCenter.org continues to evolve into something closer to our vision of a place you go for information, inspiration, and maybe even just to poke around and find something fun. Nonmembers will still see the “About Ideal Medical Practices” backstory. Logged in members now see a more direct link to the latest discussion posts, and below that, Twitter feeds from some of our favorite health policy commentators. Agree, disagree, or agree to disagree… you’re sure to find something interesting there to click on. What do you think of the changes? Post and let us know.

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IMP Monthly Calls, Gone but not Lost, and Upcoming

Our January call has come and gone. Your fellow IMPs came to share problems, solutions with a great discussion of tracking HEDIS measures, and moral support. Need a dose of HEDIS help or moral support and missed the call? We recorded the audio and will be posting it soon on IMPCenter.org.

Block out time for the February monthly call. Marci Nielsen, CEO of the Patient Centered Primary Care Collaborative, and monthly call doyenne Jean Antonucci MD will lead a discussion of small independent practices and their role in the healthcare environment. Wednesday 2/1 at noon Eastern. Learn more about PCPCC here.